I am 28 years old Nepali woman and until today what menstruation tranlaste in Nepali. Shocking! All my life I have been using various euphemism to say that I was on my period, most commonly “nachune” which mean untouchable. This is a very negative euphemism to use esp. in country where taboos around menstruation are quite strong. I almost feel like I was promting the culture of untouchable during period. Do we need period euphemism to communicate about period? Is it one of the factor creating the taboo culture around menstraution? Should we stop using it and just say the word Period.

Absolutely yes, though these euphmesimn are cute and make our conversation less awkward, however, I would definately ask everyone to use the correct term for period/ menstruation. The more you speak out loud, the more normal it feels and together we can break the barrier to these taboo topics.

Period is a very natural process that women go though every month unless you are on contraception or pregnant. It is the fundamental process of existence of human being. No one should be ashamed of talking about it. You should rather embrace and be proud of yourself.

I asked a few people what do they think about period euphemism. Here are some of the responds:

“I don’t believe in euphemisms when it comes to this extremely normal bodily function, because there’s already so much of a stigma attached to it. I don’t shy away from naming it or talking about it when it’s relevant.”….from South Africa.

“Now I just call it period mostly, except first time with new boyfriend I will say “my office is closed for renovations” lol to be cute because things are awkward in the beginning, but once comfortable just saying I have my period.”… from Canada

I say “Moon cycle”…Not from my country but i adopted it as I makes me feel calmer when I use this words…from Spain.

But the most importantly we need to normalise this conversation in our society. One of the best way to do is by educating everyone including all menstruaors and non-mnestruators about period / menstraution.

This statement sums up how I feel about period/ euphemism and how we can break this stigma around menstruation.

My 11yo son probably knows more about the topic than many grown men I’ve encountered in my life, and so he should, because we live together and my period (my mood at the time, what I need, what I exclude myself from, etc.) is highly relevant to him. Ditto for my partner. Most all partners I’ve ever had, however, I’ve had to “train” to become sensitive to and — even more important — not freaked out by, “Noooo! Blood!” I can only imagine what a grateful pleasure it will be for women who engage with my son one day to be treated with understanding, sensitivity, and respect when it’s “that time of the month”. It’s up to us to normalise the topic, and vocab definitely has a role to play there.

So to conclude:

Its perfectly okay to use period euphemism, we think they are cute and funny and perfect excuse to have a girlie conversation and avoid awkwardness. However, when you need to use the term period don't get hesitant to use it. #justsayperiod. I would more urge you to use it aroun non-mnestruators as this can help break that stigma around menstruation and normalise it. #positvechange.

Here are our favourite #periodeuphemism in GIfs. #HappyBleeding In French: “The english have landed”

In Hungarian: “megjött a mikulás (Santa Claus arrived)”

In Sweden: “having jam in my waffle”

In South Africa: “the auntie with the red car is here again.” The pic is not of an aunt. I just could find any decent pic of women in a car.